Retrieving a will from a solicitor

[jaja4421]

Hi All,

Just looking for a bit of insight on this...

Mother in law recently passed and her will is in the offices of a local solicitor who drew up the will about 8 years ago.

My wife is joint executor(trix) with her 2 siblings. She rang the solicitor and asked for the will to be told "we need 2 forms of ID from each of the executors before we can release the will". Not a problem for her and her sister, but her brother is 200 miles away.

My question - is it normal for a solicitor to need ID from all executors in order to release the will, or (as I suspect) have they another motive?

Informed opinions and experiences appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Dashnine]

Back in 2015 I was joint executor with my sister for our mother, I recovered the will from the solicitor by email without any ID but I did hold Power of Attorney over her affairs.

However the joint executor situation was a pain, we found it easier for my sister to withdraw as executor as it made dealing with banks, building societies, other businesses etc. much easier as sole executor.

[W124Bob]

My brother and I were joint excutors of my mothers will just over a year ago, I live a good 3 hours away but my brother was local to the solicitors offices which had the will. I did have to attend an intial meeting with ID but we quickly arranged for my brother to be lead executor. All further correspondence needing signatures was done by RMail, final money transfered to my brothers account then then he kept back 50% what we estimated the fees to be. It was a slow process but this had more to do with someone going on maternity leave and the paper work getting dumped at another office, my advice is keep on top of the solicitors and agree on one lead excutor(assuming family relationships are good).